Duterte Sinagot si Noynoy: Gago ka (WATCH)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday answered former President Benigno Aquino III who criticized his drug war with "Sige, pumasok ka sa droga PNoy, ‘pag hindi kita pinutulan ng ulo, buang ka. Anong walang nangyari? Gago ka," he said at the 113th founding anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Duterte said that uniformed officials during Aquino's term such as General Vicente Loot had drug links.

"Mga generals mo, ‘yang aide mo, ‘yung aide ni [former Interior Secretary Mar] Roxas puro nasa droga, konektado. Number one diyan ‘yung bata ninyo si General Loot, isa pa ‘yang u– na ‘yan," he said.

Duterte also told reporters after his speech that he had almost achieved in a year what Aquino managed to do in six years.

"Kasi sabi niya, walang nangyari sa campaign. Tingnan naman niya, in all of his six years, he was only able to seize or catch about 3,045 kilos of shabu. Ako, dito ngayon sa akin, just one year, I have already seized about 2,000–nearing 3,000 sa entire six years niya," he said.

Aquino had previously defended his administration's record against drugs, noting that the number of drug users didn't increase during his tenure.

Aquino on Tuesday questioned the Duterte administration's campaign against illegal drugs, and was quoted as saying "parang wala yatang nangyari."

Noynoy Aquino Said Duterte Drug War Ineffective, Malacañang Hit back

Former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III said that current President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war is ineffective. Aquino told reporters on Tuesday that during his term in 2015, statistics showed that there were 1.8 million drug users in the Philippines. At the end of 2016, the number of drug users in the country remained at 1.8 million.

“Parang wala yatang nangyari (It seems like nothing happened),” Aquino said.

Malacañang answered back with facts and figures:

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said “Comments like the above from past leaders imply a jaded cynicism borne of a history of political opportunism, the results of (President Rodrigo Duterte’s) anti-illegal drug campaign speak for themselves.”

- unprecedented voluntary surrender of more than 1.3 million drug personalities
- 96,703 drug personalities have been arrested in the first year of the Dutertes administration’s war on drugs compared to 77,810 drug personalities arrested in the six years of the Aquino administration.
- 2,445.80 kilos of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) have been seized in the first year of the present administration’s anti-drug campaign compared to the 3,219.07 kilos of shabu seized in the six years of the previous administration.